


Downpour

by FortunesRevolver



Category: Rockman.EXE | Mega Man Battle Network
Genre: Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-04-11 11:53:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4434503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FortunesRevolver/pseuds/FortunesRevolver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After seeing so many fall to the clutches of the Darkchips, none of them ever imagined they'd be mourning a friend. It's a difficult process to stand up after losing someone you cherish. Sometimes, a shoulder to lean on just isn't enough, and all that's left is to pick up the pieces as you try to move forward.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Downpour

**\- Rockman -**

Being stuck in a PET has never bothered Rockman as much as it did then.

He wants to tend to his operator, to the guilt he knows and sees reflected in Netto’s face and eyes. He can’t blame him. Both he and Netto had been ready to take the fall, to play the part of the martyr and see that everyone was able to escape safely. It was a role they knew and played well; self-sacrifice was part of their nature.

He wants and needs to see the person who had saved him from falling to a fate he wouldn’t have been able to reverse, of being ripped away from Netto and his friends. It wasn’t fair, he thinks. Neither Enzan nor Blues deserved what had happened to them, not when they’d only just escaped the very dangers of darkness through Enzan’s attention to detail.

Data or not, he could feel emotions as well as he could see them, but he doesn’t know what to do with these. There’s too many swirling inside him and it’s almost overwhelming. Sometimes he wonders if it would be easier for him to simply turn his emotions off; to be able to lock them behind a blank mask and play the part of a fighter and nothing more. He knows he’d never survive a life like that. His feelings, his bonds, are too important to him. Even if three of them are leaving him in pieces.

“Netto,” he calls out and soon sees the damp face of his operator looking down at him. They’ve only recently left Enzan’s office, and he already knows where Netto is standing. They’ve spent a lot of time outside or near the IPC building as of late. Sometimes they get the courage to go inside, and others they simply wait, watching as people pass by in a blur as they try to wrap their minds around everything that has happened. “Um, can I go out for a bit?”

For a few moments, Netto doesn’t respond and Rockman is worried he’s overstepped an invisible line without meaning to. Netto is first and foremost, his operator and best friend. There is very little he  _wouldn’t_  do for the other, but there is a feeling inside of him that will not go away and he knows he has to answer to it. To his relief, Netto’s shifts from surprise to understanding in quick succession and Rockman knows Netto is aware of what he wants to do.

“…stay as long as he needs.” There is no need for an explanation, and Rockman nods in response before disappearing in a wave of pixels.

He looks up at Enzan in a place he’s never been alone in before. This PET is not his own, and anytime he’s been able to visit before, there has always been the strong warrior of red beside him. As he touches his chest, explaining in a quiet tone the reason for his visit, part of the one who once lived there is inside of him; pulsing and strong.

It’s strange, he thinks, how he’s gained another fragment of soul - a warm and familiar power he cherishes and trusts - and yet he feels emptier than ever.

**\- Enzan -**

The rain falls down in heavy sheets, casting a heavy silence over the city. From high above, Enzan watches alone from a dark office, watching the rivets of water travel downward in rivets behind the glass barriers keeping him dry. Lightning fills the room for brief moments of time, illuminating the face void of emotion, a stark contrast to the eyes reflecting the storm outside.

His trembling hands clench into tight fists at his side as his lungs struggle to keep his breathing quiet, to keep his head above the violent torrent of emotions shooting through his mind and threatening to drag him under; it feels like drowning. The air is too thick and makes his mouth feel like it’s full of cotton and he swallows, trying to relieve some of the pressure, but it never makes a difference.

Behind him, the trill of his PET goes off and Enzan turns his head, waiting. The ring continues, every beep makes his chest feel tighter. He never realised how often he’d taken a single ring for granted; for the sharp trill to be cut off by a soft but firm _Enzan-sama_ alerting him to the identity of the caller. It’s a heavy truth he isn’t ready for and the waters around him grow rougher still.

All of this, he knows, is his fault. His own actions and choices have come back to haunt him in the form of an enemy he can’t hope to cut down. This isn’t an emotion he can run from, nor a feeling he can simply bury away. Every ring of the PET is like a siren in the back of his mind, screaming accusations and reminders of his actions only a short while ago. The reality of it leaves him feeling number than before and he walks toward his desk; he couldn’t care less for who it is, but he needs the voices to _stop._

Picking up the PET, he feels something in his stomach churn violently and his PET tightens around his hand. It’s fear and anger all at once and he doesn’t know what to do with it, but he is a professional; masks are put on as easily as his clothes and he keeps his face impassive.

“Rockman.”

The navi who had almost succumbed to the twisted fate he’d forced upon his own looks up at him with a quiet expression that makes Enzan feel as if he’s being placed under a microscope. Everything Rockman says processes slowly and he almost wants to scream, but he knows well it won’t do any good. None of this is Rockman’s fault; he’d been the one willing to sacrifice himself.

“Can I stay here for a while?”

The question takes him by surprise and he doesn’t know how to respond. Part of him wants to say no, to claim he doesn’t need Rockman’s mockery or pity, but he’s known both navi and operator long enough to know his accusations would be false. Another part wants to say yes, to cling to the only pure fragment of his lost partner that is left. But his pride – or maybe it’s just his own fear of admitting to a reality he’s fighting – won’t let him speak the way he wants to. “Do as you like.”

Outside, the rain continues to fall.

**\- Netto -**

As he stands outside in the rain, Netto is unable to gather his thoughts in a way that makes sense. The heaviness that plagues his chest is familiar, and he’s only ever truly felt it once before. The look he sees Enzan trying to hide in his eyes is one he knows well and it makes it impossible to miss. He’s been there before; looked down at the screen of a PET to see nothing there and known it wasn’t going to be temporary.

The thought that it could be him in Enzan’s place is all too real to him and it’s frightening. When Rockman was lost, his father had offered him the hope of bringing his partner back. With the help of his friends, with _Enzan’s_ help, he’d been able to see Rockman once more.

But what does Enzan have? They’ve both seen, even delivered, the fate of those who fall to darkness. There is not easy recovery; there is no data to be saved. Just a painful ending for something to be pitied.

But that’s not what he deserves. _This_ soul never should have been lost; never should have had to face the pain and darkness of a chip that shouldn’t have even existed.

It hurts. It burns his chest and feels like a dagger being twisted into his gut. It hurts because he can’t imagine just how bad it must be hurting Enzan. For him, Rockman was simply gone, but for Enzan, he has to face the constant reminder of what was done. Not just face, but fight it as well, have it stare him in the face with a smirk, once playful and challenging, now twisted and mocking with nothing but malice behind it.

For once, Netto has no certainty of being able to save someone important to him from suffering.

And it _hurts._


End file.
